What i don't get is why we go away from what was working all year with Stuck/AA, and start using LH esp against an athlethic young team like the Sixers? Stuckey/Lindsey proved ineffective. I don't understand how Flip didn't see that.

And if we were getting killed on the O glass, why not play you most athlethic rebounder?

Can someone explain this to me? I'm at a loss seriously.

Click to expand...

Pistons had 2 more offensive rebounds than the Sixers.

There was not anything particulary wrong with the rebounding or the defense. They could not hit a shot. How many opportunities in the late 4th did they miss?

When you hold the opponent to 90 points on 43% shooting at home during the playoffs you should win. You have to win those.

Throwing Hunter out there may have been a mistake for the simple fact that he has hardly played all season. You should go with what got you here.

Flip's always been clueless. How many times have we heard that same old crap from him after losses? He was coaching scared, and his players looked like strangers out there. Rip needs to quit trying to be the man. He's not good enough. And he needs to not hog the ball on offense, particularly on a 3 on 1 fastbreak.

I don't know about that. Reggie Evans is one of the five best rebounders ever to play in the NBA, and he's extremely strong. Amir might be too frail to try to box him out at this point in his career.

If McDyess weren't being so worthless, he's probably the only Piston I'd trust to keep him off the glass - or Sheed, but Sheed's trying to anchor the team's defense and is perpetually being drawn out of position helping Chauncey, Rip, and Tayshaun.

It's a big problem. The Pistons have to rebound as five.

Click to expand...

I agree with this, but as for Amir i think he can counter Evans strength with his athleticism. We'll never know though. Look for the same script next game.

I would think that Joe D. is as upset about this (inappropriate term) performance as he was about the Cleveland playoff game last year in which we let LBJ score 50-plus points. It would be interesting to know what he will say to Saunders or to the team.

Above is the box score. It reads 18 offensive for the Sixers and 20 offensive for the Pistons. 45 overall for the Sixers and 43 overall for the Pistons. But thats natural since we missed so many more shots.

2) Our winning percentage when AA play significant minutes is __ (Lee, please fill in blank). I don't care if it is because he truly has an impact on the game or it is like the superstition of not shaving un til you win. When he plays; we win; plain and simple. I want to win so play him!!!!!

There was not anything particulary wrong with the rebounding or the defense. They could not hit a shot. How many opportunities in the late 4th did they miss?

When you hold the opponent to 90 points on 43% shooting at home during the playoffs you should win. You have to win those.

Throwing Hunter out there may have been a mistake for the simple fact that he has hardly played all season. You should go with what got you here.

Click to expand...

From the recaps i read we were getting burned on penetration and on the glass by Dalambert. Allowing tons of penetration is not good defense regardless of FG %.

This team will always be at odds with Flip for exactly what you said. We are not going to win on offense. Yes you have to score a specific amount, but we are not going to be the team that hits those "shots"
We win with fundamentals and defense, efficient offense and ball movement. We are an oppurtunistic scoring team that can (could) shut you know. Flip will continually be at odds with this as he shows his inability to comprehend you need to play your best defensive players.

And he overplayed the starters, but it's not the overplaying as much as it is that they don't get sufficient breaks in between and play whole quarters, sometimes whole quarters and a half.

If this team continues to try to win in a way that they're not built for, we will continue to look like this; mediocre.

Also i don't know why Sheed's taking the blame. It makes me sad to see this team get out-coached on a regular basis. I could go on to name countless mistakes the players make, but the bottomline is there are always going to be mistakes, it's up to the coach to put the team in the position to succeed.

And Hayes awfulness shouldn't mean just playing Tay more. Flip has had tons of time to come up with a different idea in fact what was the whole point of playing AA at SF the last few games? Boredom? Kicks?)

The only good part about this is after reading Joe's recent comments about Sheed, i have faith Flip will go before him.

A smile just went up in Cleveland, Boston Orlando as the sixers pulled the upset...Some guy named Stern was in the NY NBA offices was smiling too.

.This game was lost in the third qtr when they blew that 15 point lead as the starters wore down...and Flip played all but Dice the whole period. Then the three missed FT's by CB was also a killer.. In fact Mr. BS was just BullSht

Pistons win the first half 51-38 and lose the second half 52-35

I knew this team was a tough matchup, but this is a downer.... Sheed played great with the zoo crew in second qtr, but when they had Tay out there in the 4th with the zoo crew, it was just terrible....

Click to expand...

Thanks for mentioning that. Max tried to blame the loss on playing the rookies, and our starters being rusty. But gee, we won the first half handily, and were putting on a clinic at times. Not much sign of rust, except possibly some for Rip. (Who had to rest that hip injury.)

The game was clearly lost in the 2nd half, with guys like Sheed running out of gas from getting no rest in the first half of the game. To the Flip apologists out there, can you please explain why Flip felt comfortable playing a 33 year old that much?

Was the team rusty? Wait a moment, we were going into Sheed for easy buckets the whole first half. Everything seemed to be going pretty darn well. Heck, we can't complain at all about excessive outside shooting in that first half. For a long time to start the game, neither Rip nor Billups even took a shot.

Now Max claims our rebounding was fine. Was it? Was it as good as it could have been. Our two best rebounders are Amir and Dyess. Dyess played little, as he really can't match up with Philly too well. And Amir did not even play.

And Max claims our defense was fine too. Really. Both Miller and Greene had excellent games against us. Could'nt we have done a bit better. Just maybe we should have played our best perimeter defender, Afflalo.

Now some say we should have won. With the guys that played. Nope. Philly will beat that group every time. Perhaps like Max said, if Hunter had not played, maybe we could have won. And I say if Hayes had not played, it would have improved our chances too. Even less of Dyess would have helped too. But someone has to play the minutes. Our starters played enough. So why not play young, good, solid energetic players like Afflalo and Amir.

We played good enough D? Nope. Prince played fine D, holding Iggy to some horrid shooting. Look at what the rest of the Pistons did with the rest of the Philly players. Not so good. We will never beat Philly without two of our best defenders playing.

What I am saying Lee is that holding a team to 90 points and 43% shooting no matter how slice or dice it should be enough for a win. Sure the defense could have been better but the Sixers still only got 90 points out of it.

Did you see the 4th quarter? Did you notice that the Pistons could not hit a shot in the final possetions of the game?

A very disappointing, almost bewildering, game by the Pistons. No real playoff intensity by the Pistons for much of second half. And, as somebody else noted, the offense was badly disorganized in that half. Saunders seemed helpless out there when things started falling apart. His answer for the starters' problems in the third quarter was to play Lindsay for long stretches.

With less than a minute remaining, and the Pistons behind, Rasheed thought it was a good time to joke around with the 76ers by joining their huddle on the court. It was mildly amusing, but what does it say about his focus? Shortly thereafter, Rasheed missed a key layup, and that was basically the ballgame.

Click to expand...

That is not why they lost. The game was over when miller took over the game from chauncey. Sheed should not have been in the huddle joking around, but maybe he was trying to keep loose, either way that is not why he missed the layup. He should have made that layup, but the game should not have gotten to that point. The pistons were outcoached and outplayed very badly in the second half. The sixers guard lived in the paint and we could not make shots. We have a terrible offensive philosophy and when the shots are not falling, the bottom drops out very quickly.

Thanks for mentioning that. Max tried to blame the loss on playing the rookies, and our starters being rusty. But gee, we won the first half handily, and were putting on a clinic at times. Not much sign of rust, except possibly some for Rip. (Who had to rest that hip injury.)

The game was clearly lost in the 2nd half, with guys like Sheed running out of gas from getting no rest in the first half of the game. To the Flip apologists out there, can you please explain why Flip felt comfortable playing a 33 year old that much?

Was the team rusty? Wait a moment, we were going into Sheed for easy buckets the whole first half. Everything seemed to be going pretty darn well. Heck, we can't complain at all about excessive outside shooting in that first half. For a long time to start the game, neither Rip nor Billups even took a shot.

Now Max claims our rebounding was fine. Was it? Was it as good as it could have been. Our two best rebounders are Amir and Dyess. Dyess played little, as he really can't match up with Philly too well. And Amir did not even play.

And Max claims our defense was fine too. Really. Both Miller and Greene had excellent games against us. Could'nt we have done a bit better. Just maybe we should have played our best perimeter defender, Afflalo.

Now some say we should have won. With the guys that played. Nope. Philly will beat that group every time. Perhaps like Max said, if Hunter had not played, maybe we could have won. And I say if Hayes had not played, it would have improved our chances too. Even less of Dyess would have helped too. But someone has to play the minutes. Our starters played enough. So why not play young, good, solid energetic players like Afflalo and Amir.

We played good enough D? Nope. Prince played fine D, holding Iggy to some horrid shooting. Look at what the rest of the Pistons did with the rest of the Philly players. Not so good. We will never beat Philly without two of our best defenders playing.

Click to expand...

Lee, Sheed is pro athlete who had A WHOLE MONTH played maybe 50% so you cant blame flip for keeping Sheed in: Sheed was our only PIP guy there. And sixers penetration wasn't so horrible how you prefer it to see: most of this "penetration" came from fastreak situation and such things are pretty normal after bad shots, regardless of who plays.

Lee, in my opinion our bench is not so good that they can shovel starters crap( i.e. correct starters mistakes)

It is not flip's fault that CB missed 3 FT in a row and at the last posession CB almoust turned ball over.

I do think that Flip went into this game with the firm belief that his starting squad would win this game handily, with only modest help from the bench. I thought the same thing myself. When that game plan fell apart, in the second half, I think Flip was disoriented and surprised, and fell back on what he was most comfortable with -- relying on the veteran bench player, Lindsay.

What I am saying Lee is that holding a team to 90 points and 43% shooting no matter how slice or dice it should be enough for a win. Sure the defense could have been better but the Sixers still only got 90 points out of it.

Did you see the 4th quarter? Did you notice that the Pistons could not hit a shot in the final possetions of the game?

Click to expand...

The Pistons? What I saw is some very tired players wearing Pistons unifrms. Tay, no rest. Rip, no rest. Sheed, no rest. Billups, no rest. Maxiell only played about 30 minutes, but as he did not start, the rest pattern for him was far from optimal. Horrid coaching.

This is the playoffs. Defense tightens up. You want to win, you need championship caliner D. Look into your history books and tell me how many times we held a team under 43% in the 04 playoffs.